A CONCISE INTRODUCTION TO
LINGUISTICS COMPREHENSIVE EXAM
SCRIPT VERIFIED QUESTIONS AND
SOLUTIONS GRADED APLUS
●● Descriptive approach
Answer: Describes the structure of language.
●● Comparative approach
Answer: Compares languages and establishes correspondents.
●● Historical approach
Answer: Examines the history and evolution of language.
●● Characteristics of Language
Answer: Language is a means of communication, arbitrary, a system of
systems, primarily vocal, differs from animal communication, and is a
form of social behavior.
●● Functions of Language
Answer: Tool for identification, reveals psychology and personality,
transmits culture, strengthens interhuman relationships, indicates
societal advancement, and serves for entertainment.
, ●● Reasons why linguistics is considered a science
Answer: It is empirical and objective, based on observation of language
phenomena, and consistent and economical.
●● Scope of Linguistics
Answer: To describe the language, study its nature, and establish a
theory of language.
●● Displacement
Answer: Allows users to talk about things and events that are not present
in the immediate environment.
●● Arbitrariness
Answer: There is no inherent or natural connection between a linguistic
form and its meaning.
●● Productivity
Answer: Novel utterances are continually being created.
●● Cultural Transmission
Answer: The process whereby language is passed on from one
generation to the next.
LINGUISTICS COMPREHENSIVE EXAM
SCRIPT VERIFIED QUESTIONS AND
SOLUTIONS GRADED APLUS
●● Descriptive approach
Answer: Describes the structure of language.
●● Comparative approach
Answer: Compares languages and establishes correspondents.
●● Historical approach
Answer: Examines the history and evolution of language.
●● Characteristics of Language
Answer: Language is a means of communication, arbitrary, a system of
systems, primarily vocal, differs from animal communication, and is a
form of social behavior.
●● Functions of Language
Answer: Tool for identification, reveals psychology and personality,
transmits culture, strengthens interhuman relationships, indicates
societal advancement, and serves for entertainment.
, ●● Reasons why linguistics is considered a science
Answer: It is empirical and objective, based on observation of language
phenomena, and consistent and economical.
●● Scope of Linguistics
Answer: To describe the language, study its nature, and establish a
theory of language.
●● Displacement
Answer: Allows users to talk about things and events that are not present
in the immediate environment.
●● Arbitrariness
Answer: There is no inherent or natural connection between a linguistic
form and its meaning.
●● Productivity
Answer: Novel utterances are continually being created.
●● Cultural Transmission
Answer: The process whereby language is passed on from one
generation to the next.
